Ithbāt al-Ḥadd by al-Dashtī — Edited by ‘Ādil Āl Ḥamdān

a Lord of the worlds, the God of Moses—his denial of the Lord of the worlds, and because He is in the heaven, was greater than the polytheism of the polytheists who used to acknowledge that and worship other gods along with Him." End quote.

The statement of Ibn Taymiyya, may Allah have mercy on him, has already been quoted (p. 170) that the issue of God's elevation above His creation is among the matters known from the religion by necessity.

Sheikh Sulaymān b. Saḥmān, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "The issue of God's elevation above His creation, His rising over His Throne, and the affirmation of His attributes of perfection and descriptions of majesty are among the clear and apparent issues, and among what is known from the religion by necessity. For God has clarified them in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger. Whoever hears the Qur'anic verses and the prophetic hadiths, the evidence has been established against him, even if he does not understand it. If he is someone who reads the Qur'an, the matter is even greater and more severe, especially if he is stubborn and claims that what he is upon is the truth, and that the Qur'an did not clarify that with a sufficient and healing clarification. The disbelief of such a person is clearer than the sun at midday, and no one who knows Islam, its rulings, and its principles would hesitate in declaring his disbelief." End quote.

[From the book: Ijmāʿ Ahl al-Sunna al-Nabawiyya ʿalā Takfīr al-Muʿaṭṭila al-Jahmiyya (p. 117)]

Their belief regarding the Qur'an that it is an expression of the speech of God.

The Ash'arites, even if they say outwardly: "The Qur'an is the speech of God," they mean by that the internal speech (al-kalām al-nafsī) which is an expression of the speech of God Almighty, and it is neither with letter nor sound. This view, which has no reality in truth, is the exact same view of the Jahmiyya who deny the speech of God Almighty. The only difference is that the Jahmiyya stated it explicitly, while the Ash'arites concealed it.

Ibn Taymiyya, may Allah have mercy on him, said in al-Istiqāma (1/212): "There is no disagreement among people that the first to invent this view in Islam—meaning internal speech—was Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullāh b. Saʿīd b. Kullāb al-Baṣrī, and he was followed in that by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī and those who supported their method..." etc.

Al-Sijzī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his Risāla ilā Ahl Zabīd (p. 137), while clarifying the agreement of the Ash'arites with the Mu'tazilites on the issue of the Qur'an:

"The Mu'tazilites said: The surahs and verses are created, and they are a miraculous Qur'an.

And al-Ashʿarī said: The Qur'an is the speech of God, Glorified is He, but the surahs and verses are not the speech of God,

Sheikh Sulaymān b. Saḥmān, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "The issue of God's elevation above His creation, His rising over His Throne, and the affirmation of His attributes of perfection and descriptions of majesty are among the clear and apparent issues, and among what is known from the religion by necessity. For God has clarified them in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger. Whoever hears the Qur'anic verses and the prophetic hadiths, the evidence has been established against him, even if he does not understand it. If he is someone who reads the Qur'an, the matter is even greater and more severe, especially if he is stubborn and claims that what he is upon is the truth, and that the Qur'an did not clarify that with a sufficient and healing clarification. The disbelief of such a person is clearer than the sun at midday, and no one who knows Islam, its rulings, and its principles would hesitate in declaring his disbelief." End quote.